Hello all,
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to you all.
I live in Berkshire on the edge of the suburbs of an affluent market town. I have had quite a passive interest in preparedness for the past few years, dipping in and out Of active prepping.

My main motivation is mainly to have some kind of emergency plan for when certain things in society go wrong. I believe certain aspects of our societies infrastructure are susceptible to infiltration, damage from negligence or malice or are vulnerable to cyber attacks. For example the National Grid, emergency services Airwave equipment, mobile phone masts/networks, fuel supply, water supply, supermarket supply chain. The list goes on. In addition, our councils seemingly inability to manage effectively extreme weather is also concerning. Lastly, our emergency services and hospital trusts are constantly reporting reduced budgets, lack of resources and equipment. We these points considered I strongly believe if one aspect of our societies infrastructure was effected the emergency services and councils would struggle. All of these points I have mentioned makes me nervous and that is why I have formed an interest in Preparedness. I think the British Keep Calm and Carry On mentality would last two to three days. This is what I am preparing for. And I do believe it could happen in my lifetime.

So now you know the reasons behind my prepping journey I will tell you a little about myself. I don’t want to give too much away though as I am naturally suspicious and security conscious.

I have a young family. I have a dog. I work as a train driver so my work takes me into London and also into the countryside. Although I am never massively far from civilisation I can be up to fifty/sixty miles from my home. I have a keen interest in health and fitness, however this has taken a knock for the past few months with a new addition to the family.

In terms of my current Preparedness Level I would consider myself a novice. I suspect I would fair better than majority of some of my neighbours. (But you never know who is a preppier due to the nature of it)In my home I have a storeroom. It certainly is not packed to the rafters but it has a few things that would be of benefit. I will hopefully discuss this in another post. I have a small garden, probably sixty foot by thirty. I have a hen enclosure with a few laying hens.

Hopefully I can bring something to this group and also learn from you all.

Welcome to the forum! Wow, amazing intro, thank you for that, and congratulations on the new addition to the family.

Being a train driver, by definition you've got to be miles away from your family sometimes - do you have an EDC, Every Day Carry, to help if you have to get home when there's a problem? And since you're a train driver, I'd like to ask a question - in novels, when a catastrophe happens, people always seem to walk along railway tracks. What do you think about that, would you do that, if the leccy was down?

Welcome to the forum! Wow, amazing intro, thank you for that, and congratulations on the new addition to the family.

Being a train driver, by definition you've got to be miles away from your family sometimes - do you have an EDC, Every Day Carry, to help if you have to get home when there's a problem? And since you're a train driver, I'd like to ask a question - in novels, when a catastrophe happens, people always seem to walk along railway tracks. What do you think about that, would you do that, if the leccy was down?

Anyway, welcome.

Thank you Arzosah.

I have an EDC which needs work on so any advice would be welcomed. I plan to do a YouTube video at some point going through my EDC. I will post a link when I’ve done. I’ll also put an inventory for it on here too. It needs a bit more work. But I guess an EDC kit is dynamic.

I wouldn’t suggest it. Even without trains running the railways are a dangerous place. For long distance walking it would be counter productive. Ballast is difficult to walk upon. Your walking is a lot more laboured as it is often loose. It is similar to walking along a shingle/pebbled beach. Then there are the sleepers, they can be very slippery. Carrying a pack would make it even more difficult. Basically it is just a recipe for a twisted ankle, at minimum. And if you do fall over and then bash your skull on a rail head then that’s also a problem. That said though, depending on your destination the railway line might actually be more stable underfoot that a cross country route. One good thing is railways aren’t often that steep. The gradient raises gradually.
Logistically, there are few to none location sign posts. They routes aren’t always the most direct route between points.
Tactically, you may find yourself in a cutting or on an embankment with steep sides either way and you may come across a situation where you meet an aggressor or a predator (rabid dog!)and your running away options are diminished. Even when there is none you would still have to negotiate a palisade fence pretty sharpish. Also, on a lot of lines there are limited hiding places to.
One thing a lot of people may not consider is the railways are a magnet to animals. I’d go so far as to say a lot of animals local to a railway line rely on ‘road kill’ for their entire diet and may even bade their habitats on the railway. Their is often an abundance of monkjack , pheasants, deer, foxes and birds of prey that all are attracted to the railway. It offers its own link on the food chain. Also if it gets bad enough where you fancy fried bat, head to your local railway tunnel.

Thank you. I’m a Christian and some scripture can be interpreted to encourage prepping.
In the circumstances I am preparing for I will be seeking comfort in my faith. A small leather bound Holy Bible is an intergral part of my EDC pack.
One thing my conscience wrestles with as a Christian would be how much and if and when I help and assist my neighbours.
I’d be interested to speak to any other Christian Preppers in this forum. Are there any?

Ballast is difficult to walk upon. Your walking is a lot more laboured as it is often loose. It is similar to walking along a shingle/pebbled beach.

I was 'lucky' enough to have a disused railway line close to where I was staying in my early 20's. The tracks and sleepers had been lifted and it was intended for it to be part of the cycle/walking routes being incorporated into the existing paths. Running on the ballast was brilliant for training, I used to do a LOT of miles on it. Admittedly that was several years and several stone ago.